The proof of prophethood is only through miracles. The greatest of these miracles is the Noble Qur'an. Yes, the fact that the Qur'an is a miracle is a truth accepted and affirmed throughout the Islamic world.
However, among the scholars, there has been a difference of opinion regarding the aspects of the Qur'an's inimitability. That is, there are many aspects in which its inimitability is claimed. Each scholar has preferred and chosen a particular aspect; there is no contradiction or opposition among them.
The aspects of inimitability:
1. Giving information about the unseen and the future.
2. The absence of any contradiction, inconsistency, or error in its verses.
3. Choosing a unique style, unknown to poets, between verse and prose.
4. Being revealed from a person who was neither literate nor a writer.
5. Covering many sciences and truths beyond human capability.
However, the highest aspect of its inimitability comes from the eloquence in its composition. Yes, this kind of inimitability of the Qur'an is on a level beyond human capacity. Those who wish to understand and form a firm conviction about this truth should study this tafsir (exegesis), similar works, and the Twenty-Fifth Discourse with attention to details.
Those who wish to obtain a general understanding can also obtain sufficient information from the three approaches explained by the masters of eloquence, such as 'Abd al-Kahir al-Jurjani, Zamakhshari, al-Sakkak, and al-Jahiz, regarding this aspect of inimitability.
İşaratü'l-İ'caz
·Bakara Suresi
·machine translation (qwen3-32b-sre)
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Fourth Element: The illumination is adapted to the degree of understanding and literary level of each era and to the capacity and ability of each class within that era. It encircles each era and each class within it with a door wide open and with a remarkable freshness that brings joy to each individual.
Fifth Source: From the perspective of narration; it is the narration of the news of the former and the latter, the truths of the unseen and the witnessed, the secrets of the Divine, and the relationships of the physical world, which neither the evident nor the intellect and logic can deny. These are truthful reports that have been confirmed by the agreement of the previously accepted books and, in cases of contradiction, verified by authentic narratives.
Sixth Element: It is the religion of Islam that he adopted and established, for which neither the past has been able to produce a similar one, nor will the future be able to do so.
Seventh Source: It is the pleasure of permission derived from the excellence of truth, which emerges from the excellence of the six lights emanating from those six sources. It is known by its excellence. In this context, language and thought are insufficient to express it.
Now, from those seven sources, only the second part of the first source, which is eloquence in poetry, the scholars of eloquence such as Abdulkâhir al-Jurjani, al-Zamakhshari, al-Sakkaki, and al-Jahiz have definitely declared the existence of three paths of permission.
Suâat
·Mektup 29
·machine translation (qwen3-32b-sre)
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Fourth Element: The illumination is adapted to the degree of understanding and literary level of each era and to the capacity and ability of each class within that era. It encircles each era and each class within it with a door wide open and with a remarkable freshness that brings joy to each individual.
Fifth Source: From the perspective of narration; it is the narration of the news of the former and the latter, the truths of the unseen and the witnessed, the secrets of the Divine, and the relationships of the physical world, which neither the evident nor the intellect and logic can deny. It is the truthful information that arises from the agreement of the previously established books and from the verified narration in disputed places.
Sixth Element: It is the religion of Islam that he adopted and established, for which neither the past has been able to produce a similar one, nor will the future be able to do so.
Seventh Source: It is the pleasure of permission that arises from the excellence of the six lights emanating from those six sources, and from the beauty of truth, which is known by its effect. Its expression is concise in language and thought.
Now, from those seven sources, only the second part of the first source, which is eloquence in poetry, the scholars of eloquence such as Abdulkahir al-Jurjani, Zamakhshari, al-Sakkaki, and al-Jahiz have definitely declared the existence of three paths of permission.
Suâat
·Suaat
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Second approach: From all the experts in investigation, examination, and criticism, both friends and enemies, nothing but a copper work has been seen when the Glorious Qur'an is tested verse by verse, word by word, against the standard of gold, considering the nature, value, and excellence of the words. After this severe test, they have testified that the subtleties, beauties, and truths contained in the Glorious Qur'an are not found in any human speech. Their sincere testimony can be proven as follows:
The great revolution and transformation the Qur'an has brought to the human world, the religion and faith it has established, embracing both East and West, and its amazing ability to preserve its youthfulness and vigor over time, and its enduring nature despite repeated cycles, all indicate this when they recite and declare the verse: "1 Indeed, it is only a revelation revealed."
Third approach: According to the investigations of the famous master of eloquence, Jahiz, the Arab poets and eloquent speakers had an extreme need to challenge the cause of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, with the pen. Along with their hatred, enmity, and stubbornness toward him, they were compelled to abandon the easiest, nearest, and safest means of argument with the pen and writing, and instead resorted to the longest, most difficult, dangerous, and suspicious sword and war. It is clearly understood that they have been rendered incapable of producing anything like the Qur'an. For they were not among those who did not understand the difference between the two paths.
Therefore, since the first path was more suitable for refuting the cause, they abandoned it and chose another path that endangered both their possessions and their lives. This can only mean that they are either foolish—although it is not appropriate to call those who have taken control of worldly affairs after becoming Muslims as foolish—or they have considered themselves incapable of following the first path. Therefore, they turned from the pen to the sword.
İşaratü'l-İ'caz
·Bakara Suresi
·machine translation (qwen3-32b-sre)
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Would any wise person, especially those men in the Arabian Peninsula at that time, especially the intelligent people like the Quraysh, abandon the easy and short path, risk their lives, wealth, and families, and take the most difficult road, just to imitate a single verse of the Qur'an and escape from the Qur'an's challenge?
In short, as the famous Jâhiz said: "It was impossible to imitate the Qur'an with letters, so they were forced to fight with swords." 1
If one says: Some learned scholars have said: "Not even a single surah, but even a single verse, sentence, or word of the Qur'an can be imitated or has been imitated." These words seem exaggerated and are not accepted by reason. Because in the words of mankind, there are many sentences similar to the sentences of the Qur'an. What is the secret wisdom of this statement?
The answer is: There are two schools of thought regarding the inimitability of the Qur'an:
The first and more common and rational school is that the subtleties of eloquence and the meanings of the Qur'an are beyond human ability.
The second, less accepted school is that it is within human ability to imitate a single surah of the Qur'an; however, Allah has prevented them from doing so as a miracle of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Just as a man can stand up, but if a prophet declares it as a miraculous act and says, "You cannot stand," then he cannot stand, and that is a miracle. This second school is called the "Sarf School." That is, Allah has prevented jinn and humans from imitating even a single surah of the Qur'an. If He had not prevented them, jinn and humans would have imitated a surah. According to this school, the words of the scholars who say, "Not even a single word can be imitated," are true. Because if Allah has prevented them from imitating, they cannot open their mouths to imitate. Even if they open their mouths, without the permission of Allah, they cannot utter the word.
Mektubat
·On Dokuzuncu Mektup
·machine translation (qwen3-32b-sre)